Second Temple Jewish Literary Traditions in 2 Peter

• Published in: The Catholic Biblical quarterly 2016-01, Vol.78 (1), p.111-130
• Main Author: WERSE, NICHOLAS R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Articulation; Bible; Biblical studies; Exegesis & hermeneutics; New Testament
• ISSN: 0008-7912; 2163-2529

In the present study, I explore fifteen allusions and references to earlier Jewish literary traditions in the Second Petrine Epistle. The allusions in 2 Peter to earlier Jewish traditions often do not draw on the literary origins of these traditions in the traditionally designated Jewish Scriptures. The allusions show greater affinity with late Second Temple Jewish and early Christian reinterpretations of these traditions. Of the fifteen possible allusions surveyed in this study, eleven demonstrate greater affinity with later Second Temple Jewish interpretive traditions (2:5, 7-8; 3:5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13; including 2:4, 6, 15-16 based on differences from the Jude source). Two allusions betray greater affinity with early Christian interpretive traditions (1:17-18; 3:10). One allusion is vague enough to preclude evidence of later Second Temple interpretive developments (1:19). Only two possible allusions do not necessarily demonstrate greater affinity with later reinterpretations of a literary tradition than with that tradition's earliest articulation (2:22; 3:8). This study reveals, therefore, that a significant majority of 2 Peter's allusions to early Jewish literary traditions show greater affinity with significantly later Jewish and Christian reinterpretations of these traditions. This conclusion has significant implications for early biblical interpretation within the Christian community of the Second Petrine Epistle.